Successful Naps

Establish a regular nap schedule to help your child understand when it's time to sleep. Having a pre-nap routine (nappy change, dark/dimly lit room, sleeping bag, story, white noise (if you use this), lullaby etc) will help with wind down and helping your little one to know that it is time for sleep. Having similar timings each day for the naps will help set your little one’s body clock and they will then start to get ready for their nap around the same time each day.

Look out for signs of tiredness, such as rubbing eyes, turning away from stimulation, staring, pulling at ears, getting fractious or yawning, and act quickly on these to start naptime.

Follow all the same rules as you have established when putting baby to bed at night. If your little one is struggling with sleep in the day, try to darken the room they are in and, as per point 1, use sleep associations such as putting them in their sleeping bag as you would if settling to bed at night. Consider using white noise to block out any disturbances (although we can’t guarantee it will block out the doorbell!).

If your baby regularly wakes after 30 minutes you may want to look at helping them to transition to their next stage of sleep. Go in at around the 20-25 minute mark, put your hand on their tummy or back and gently “shhh”. If you start to see them stirring this will hopefully help to transition them through to their next sleep cycle. However, there may be times when your little one will only have 30 mins nap and there is no resettling them. That’s ok, just continue with your day and perhaps adjust the next nap timings if you see that they are getting tired earlier.

Ensure naps aren’t too late in the day or too long to avoid interfering with night time sleep. Aim for an age-appropriate nap schedule that suits your child’s needs.

If your child is struggling to fall asleep at night, awake for periods of time in the night or regularly waking early in the morning, it might be time to adjust the timings, length or number of naps they have during the day. When your child is ready to drop a nap, do so gradually. Watch for signs they’re ready, such as resisting naps or staying awake longer between them. More information on dropping naps can be found in our blog here – Dropping Naps.

Help your child learn to fall asleep on their own by placing them in their cot while awake. This helps them to learn to settle to sleep knowing where they are and will also help to extend the time they nap.

Look at your week and work out how naps will fit in. Try to see the positives of being ‘nap trapped’ and do something for yourself (have a hot cup of tea for example!). Get people to come to you rather than always needing to go out. Remember it’s not always possible to do all naps in the cot / crib and that’s OK! More information on this can be found in our blog I don’t want to be ‘nap-trapped’!